Ghost in the Flames (The Ghosts)

by Moeller, Jonathan

  Sairzan swallowed. “My lady, I fear that this rogue Narmer has taken advantage of your generous nature. He took your coin, and then abandoned his duty to you.”

  “So you have not seen him for three days?” said Caina.

  Sairzan shrugged. “Forgive me, my lady, but this Narmer is a small and insignificant man. Had I but known that he was in service to your radiant personage, I would have kept closer watch over his comings and goings. But, alas, no such news reached my ears.”

  “This is most distressing,” said Caina, wondering what had happened to Narmer. It was not like a Ghost to be late. Some mishap must have befallen him. But what sort of mishap?

  “Ah, Countess, it grieves me to see you so distraught,” said Sairzan. He bowed again over her hand, planting his lips on her ring. “I beg of you, permit me to prepare my finest rooms for you at once, to make up for this Narmer’s faithlessness. Your smile, I am sure, would be more radiant than the sun itself.”

  Despite herself, Caina laughed. “Your flattery amuses me, shameless though it is. Very well. Have rooms prepared. Also, send some of your servants to unload my baggage. My maids are weary from the journey, and have earned some rest.”

  “My lady is gracious,” said Sairzan. He clapped his hands again, and servants rushed to do his bidding. “Will you take some refreshment while you wait?”

  “Yes, of course,” said Caina. “Send some food to my maids, as well. Ark, pay him, and then come join me.”

  Ark handed some coins to the innkeeper. Servants appeared bearing glasses of wine and trays of cheese and fresh fruit. Caina realized that she was ravenous and took the food. A few moments later Ark joined her at the table, his face grim.

  “Where’s Narmer?” said Caina, voice pitched low.

  “I don’t know,” said Ark. He bit into an apple with too much force. “I spoke with the servants unloading your chests. Several of them know Narmer by name, yet no one has seen him for three days.”

  “What do you think happed to him?” said Caina. She took a sip of the wine. It was very good. Halfdan would have loved it.

  “I don’t know. Narmer has always been reliable,” said Ark. For the first time since Caina had met him, Ark seemed baffled. “He was in the Legions, as was I. Steady man. Knows how to handle himself.” He shook his head. “Something must have gone amiss. Either he’s gone to ground somewhere. Or he’s dead.”

  “Doesn’t your Ghost circle have protocols for unanticipated disaster?” said Caina. “You should have a meeting point, or a safe house.”

  Ark’s eyes flashed. “Of course we have protocols. We’re not fools.” He took a deep breath, getting himself under control. “There’s more. When I checked on the servants I went outside to have a look. There’s another member of the Rasadda circle, a woman named Crastia. She’s a ceramics merchant, keeps her booth here in the square, across from Corazain’s pyramid. The booth is empty. The servants say that about two weeks ago she didn’t show up, and hasn’t appeared since.”

  Caina stared into her wine, thinking hard. “Could the secrecy of the Rasadda circle have been breached?”

  “Possibly,” said Ark. “But I cannot see how.”

  Caina shrugged. “A simple mishap. Treachery, perhaps. And the magi of the Imperial Magisterium have spells that let them pry into another man’s mind.”

  “Absurd,” said Ark. “They are forbidden to do so under Imperial law.”

  “Oh, certainly. And the magi have been ever keen to obey Imperial law,” said Caina.

  “Is that your answer for everything?” said Ark. “You were quick enough to blame the Magisterium at Halfdan’s inn. And on what basis? No magus I have ever met has acted other than honorably.”

  Caina glared at him. “The magi wield sorcery. And as it happens, sorcery was employed in these burning deaths.”

  “Sorcery,” said Ark, his voice dripping scorn. “Are you a Ghost nightfighter, or some peasant child to blame every misfortune on sorcery? Perhaps those thugs in the alley were conjured up by sorcery. Or some sorcerer summoned that lion out on the plains.”

  For a moment Caina was so angry that she could not answer. Her fingers tightened hard around the stem of her glass, and she simply stared at Ark.

  His dead gray eyes did not waver.

  For a moment they did not speak.

  “It is clear,” said Caina, ice in her voice, “that we shall have to exercise the utmost caution. The secrecy of your circle has been breached, that is plain. Perhaps whoever is behind these burning murders did not appreciate your circle’s investigation. We lack information, and until we know more, we shall have regard everyone with suspicion. Even the Magisterium. Despite how eager you seem to lick their fingers.”

  Ark’s eyes got harder. “I put twenty years in the legions, girl. I’ve killed more men that I can remember, and most of them before you had your first moon’s blood. Probably even before you were born. I earned my centurion’s plumes, and I led my men through the sort of slaughter that would leave someone like you weeping and broken if you witnessed it. Were you to live through a tenth of the things I’ve endured, it would break your mind.” He leaned closer. “I am no man’s dog.”

  “All that may be true, centurion,” said Caina, “but in the Ghosts I still outrank you.”

  Ark sat back, his hand curling into a fist.

  Caina sighed. “So Crastia is gone. Do you have another contact?”

  Ark blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden shift in topic. “I do. A man named Aulean. He works as a cook in the Imperial Basilica, for Lord Governor Nicephorus himself.”

  “Then you shall have to speak to him,” said Caina. “It…”

  Sairzan approached their table, bowing, and Caina fell silent. “My lady. Your rooms are prepared, if you wish to go up.”

  “Shortly,” said Caina. “After we finish eating. Despite this unpleasantness with Narmer, you have done well, master innkeeper. I thank you for your service.”

  “Ah,” said Sairzan, “you accused me falsely of flattery, Countess. Your smile is indeed as radiant as I claimed.” He bowed again and walked away.

  Ark shook his head. “I shall never get used to how your voice can simply…change. You sound like two different women.”

  “That displeases you, does it not?” said Caina, her voice icy again.

  “Yes. It does,” said Ark. “Who are you truly? A Ghost of the Empire, or an Imperial Countess? Or a girl play-acting at being a Ghost?”

  “I’ve already told you,” said Caina, “that my name is Countess Marianna Nereide.” She stood, tired of the argument. “Now, come. You need to speak with Aulean, and if you go to speak with him directly it will look suspicious. The best way, I think, will be to contrive a dinner invitation with Lord Governor Nicephorus.” She smiled at Ark. “And pretty, empty-headed Countesses make for fine dinner companions, do they not?”

  Ark said nothing. But he followed her up the stairs as Sairzan led her to her rooms. Caina glanced back at Ark, wondered how best to handle him. He had saved her life in that alley. But, clearly, he was beginning to loathe her, if he had not already. It seemed that the proud centurion rankled at taking orders from a woman sixteen years his junior. But why? Surely Ark was used to taking orders from men he loathed; soldiers were never fond of their commanders.

  Or was there something more to it than that?

  Caina didn’t know, and it annoyed her. They had bigger problems at the moment. But she wished the Rasadda circle at sent someone else to ask for Halfdan’s help. Or maybe that was why they had sent him; perhaps he was too unreliable to be trusted with anything other than delivering messages, despite his formidable skill with that broadsword.

  “Here we are, my lady,” said Sairzan, opening a door. Her rooms were a sprawling suite on the Inn’s top floor. It had a sitting room, an expansive bedroom, a set of smaller rooms for the servants, and a large bathtub hewn of black marble, with hot water piped up from below. Caina appreciated that.

  She also a
ppreciated the large balcony that opened off the bedroom, looking down on the great square below Corazain’s pyramid. For someone with a rope and grapnel, it would make coming and going unseen all the easier. Especially at night. Dark and grim this city might be, but Caina’s cloak would blend well with the darkness.

  “The rooms are superb, master innkeeper,” said Caina. “You have my thanks.”

  “Simply call if you need anything, my lady, and I shall be at your side in moments.” Sairzan bowed and departed.

  “What will you do now?” said Ark.

  “I shall try to contrive a dinner invitation to Lord Governor Nicephorus’s table,” said Caina. “You can then find a way to contact Aulean without drawing suspicion.”

  “And how will you do that?” said Ark.

  “I haven’t yet decided,” said Caina. “I…”

  She frowned. Someone was shouting. In fact, a lot of people were shouting. She walked past Ark, into the bedroom, and onto the balcony overlooking the square.

  People, thousands of people, were streaming into the square. For a moment Caina thought that the Saddai had risen up in revolt, but no one in the throng was carrying weapons. They walked towards the Basilica, all shouting the same thing in Saddaic over and over again.

  Bread and justice. Bread and justice.

  “Get off the balcony, now,” hissed Ark. “You’re too fine a target.”

  “No,” said Caina. “None of them are even armed. And they’re all looking at the Basilica.”

  Ark glared at her for a moment, then strapped his shield to his left arm and joined her on the balcony.

  The thunderous chant rolled on and on for some time. A figure in a red robe came to the head of the crowd. A woman, Caina saw, and an old one, to judge from her halting step and the cane in her left hand.

  “That robe,” said Caina. “Is that…”

  “Aye,” said Ark. “She’s a priestess of the Living Flame. The Saddai commoners will do whatever she says.” His voice tightened. “In fact, I think that’s…”

  “Hear me!” The woman’s voice, rich and strong, rolled over the square. The volume of it astounded Caina. “Lord Governor Anatsius Nicephorus, hear me! I am Tadaia, a Sister of the Living Flame, and I have been chosen to speak for the Saddai of Rasadda!”

  “You know her?” said Caina.

  “Everyone knows her,” said Ark. “She is the eldest Sister of the Living Flame, the preeminent priestess in Rasadda, and much loved among the poorer Saddai.” He hesitated. “If not for her, the Saddai would have erupted in revolt years ago. But she’s never done anything like this before.”

  Tadaia’s great voice rolled on. “We come in peaceful petition as loyal subjects of the great Emperor of Nighmar. The people have been driven from their land so that cattle might graze where once wheat grew, and we are hungry. The grain dole is not enough, Lord Governor. Our men go hungry, our women suffer in silence, and our children go to bed with empty bellies. Give us justice, Lord Governor, and succor to those under your protection.”

  The crowd murmured approval to her words.

  Caina wondered how many of them had flame tattoos upon their chests.

  The doors to the Basilica swung open. A troop of militia marched out, Valgorix at their head in his plumed helm. The men gripped crossbows with nervous hands, eyes sweeping over the throng.

  “Depart at once!” Valgorix’s voice seemed weak compared to Tadaia’s, but Caina could still hear it clear enough. “This is an illegal assembly, in violation of Lord Governor Nicephorus’s decree. If you depart immediately, no punishment will be leveled upon you, but should you linger, the consequences shall be dire!”

  An angry rumble went through the crowd. But Tadaia’s voice rang out once more. “The people hunger, and unless the grain dole is increased, we shall soon starve.”

  “You will have to make do with the grain dole,” said Valgorix, his face pained. “Are you starving? Then find work, and purchase your own food.”

  “There is no work to be had, you know this,” said Tadaia. “These people were driven from their lands by the corrupt and wicked, and had no choice but to come to Rasadda. Shall we grow food from paving stones and courtyards?”

  “Be off at once!” said Valgorix. “This is your final warning!”

  “Look,” said Ark, his voice low and urgent. “Horsemen. There, there, and there, at the mouths of those streets.”

  Caina nodded. “And crossbowmen there, and there, on the parapets of the Basilica.”

  Ark snarled a vicious curse. “If Tadaia refuses to leave, Nicephorus will slaughter them all. And if Tadaia is killed, the city will explode in revolt.” He shook his head, every muscle radiating tension. “And if this city goes up in revolt…it will drown in an ocean of blood before the end.”

  For a moment neither Tadaia nor Valgorix said anything. Caina saw more horsemen maneuvering in the streets, saw the crossbowmen wind and load their weapons. The tension in the air turned electric.

  Then Tadaia took a step backwards.

  “We wish for no blood to be spilled today,” she called. “And let every man and woman mark it well: we came in peace to our Lord Governor, and he threatened us with death. So be it! But we shall return in a week, and the week after that, until justice is done.”

  Valgorix said nothing, but his men raised their crossbows. And then Tadaia turned her back to them and faced her people. The sheer courage of it took Caina’s breath away.

  “Do not be bitter, my brothers and sisters!” said Tadaia. “Let us support each other in our sufferings. Remember what the Living Flame has taught us. Temporal suffering is the fire that refines us. Pain is the crucible that burns away our impurities, so that we might be made pure for our next lives, and may one day join the Living Flame in eternal light. Let us lean on each other, brothers and sisters, in this time of adversity.”

  She limped from the plaza, head held high, the click of her cane against the ground loud in the silence. The mob followed her, draining back into the streets. The mounted militia moved aside to let them past.

  “Gods, that was close,” said Ark. “If some fool had squeezed his trigger a little too tightly, we’d have had five years of war.”

  Caina watched the mob draining away. “It seems that she has legitimate grievances.”

  “Yet she did not mention the murders at all,” said Ark.

  “Perhaps she has bigger concerns,” said Caina. “Or maybe the victims were unloved by the Saddai.”

  “Or, perhaps,” said Ark, “she wished not to draw attention to them.”

  Caina frowned. “You think she is behind these murders?”

  “Why not?” said Ark. “Her people are starving and desperate. And you yourself said that desperate men have more reason to murder than most. I assume the same would apply to women as well.”

  “It would,” said Caina. Her mother flashed through her thoughts for a moment, and her hand crept towards her father’s ring, hidden beneath her clothes. “It would.” She shook her head to clear away the memories. “But if this Nicephorus has let matters degenerate to this point, then he is a fool.”

  ###

  A short time later a knock came at the door.

  Julia opened it to reveal a liveried messenger from Lord Governor Nicephorus.

  “Countess Marianna Nereide?” he said.

  “I am,” said Caina. “Your business with me?”

  “The Lord Governor has heard of your arrival in the city, and wishes to make your acquaintance. To that end, he invites you to a banquet, to be held tonight at the eighth hour in the Imperial Basilica.”

  “Please convey to the Lord Governor my thanks for his gracious invitation,” said Caina. “I am honored, and shall be glad to attend.”

  The messenger bowed and departed.

  “That was quick,” said Ark.

  “Yes,” murmured Caina. “It seems that Valgorix reported to Nicephorus. Perhaps we’ll finally have some answers tonight.”

  Chapter 6 -
Lord Nicephorus's Banquet

  It took a lot of work to get ready for the Lord Governor’s banquet.

  She started with a long soak in the black tub, the heat sinking into her muscles. She felt better with the sweat and grime of the road washed away. And the festivities in the alley had left blood under her fingernails. The clotted blood came loose and dissolved in the hot water.

  Cornelia helped with her hair. For all her sharp tongue, the older woman did a splendid job. She arranged Caina’s hair into an elaborate braided crown, and did it faster than Caina herself could have managed.

  Two hours later she was bathed, shaved, coiffed, perfumed, and dressed. She chose an elaborate green gown with gold embroidery on the sleeves and bodice. It left, perhaps, a touch too much of her shoulders and chest exposed, but depending on the Lord Governor’s character, that could prove an asset. She wore her father’s ring on a chain hidden beneath her sleeve. The usual daggers remained hidden in her boots. The gown had large enough sleeves that Caina could strap an extra pair of knives to her forearms. She appreciated that.

  At last she emerged from the bedroom and into the sitting room. Ark sat in a chair, working nicks from his sword blade. He looked at her, and his eyes turned colder for a moment.

  “You look different,” he said.

  “As I’ve told you before,” said Caina, “that is the point.”

  “Our lady looks as lovely as the dawn,” Julia told him with a hint of reproach.

  It came and went so fast that Caina thought she might have imagined it, but something like pain shivered through Ark’s icy eyes for an instant. “Indeed. Master Sairzan has lent us a coachman, and we may leave whenever you are ready.”

  “Then let us depart,” said Caina. She looked at her maids. “Thank you, all. You have liberty for the rest of the evening.”

  She followed Ark down the stairs, taking care to keep her balance. Damnable skirts! The coach waited in the courtyard, one of Sairzan’s servants in the driver’s seat. Ark opened the door for her, and Caina climbed inside. It seemed silly to ride the coach across the plaza, but an Imperial Countess would not walk to her destination. Besides, after the attack in the alley, Caina was glad for the extra protection the coach offered.